Everyone is a victim of crimes, not just upper-middle-class white folks. In fact, the UMC folks are the ones who can afford to just write off the losses caused by property crimes, and are less susceptible to fall victim to the worst crimes, like murder.

Is there some background information you're referring to? Assault makes up the vast majority of violent crimes, so it's hard to see what it could mean for them to be done "out of sheer desperation". I can see how a desperate person might feel shoplifting or burglary are their only choice to survive, but how could they expect to benefit from punching random people?